Book Design - Cover to Cover

Thursday, July 16, 2015

I feel as though book covers are more likely to depict and represent what the novel is about whereas movie posters are more for marketing something and therefore adhere to certain standards. Many movie posters for the same genre will look the same, and while book covers can too, I feel like with movie posters you see it much much more.

This article actually talks about how a book cover for the book "It's a Man's World" ripped off the movie poster for "Morning Glory".

Through my Google search I also came across this article at Smashing Magazine regarding the best movie poster designs that I thought was cool.

I agree with what Erin said about movie posters being turned into book covers. I try not to buy these books, though I know I have a few books with movie design covers. For instance, I know I have a Lord of the Rings book (Two Towers) with Legolas on the cover, and I'm pretty sure when I bought it years ago it was on display along with each main character represented on separate book covers of the same book, so you could essentially pick your favorite character and have him on your copy of the book (which is what I did, but then again I was a teenager). Now that I look at the original intention of the book cover I see how they updated the type and brightened up the color, making the newer book more modern. From a marketing standpoint I completely understand why the publishers would choose to go this route. Unfortunately, the movie cover doesn't exactly capture the essence of the story, nor does it separate it from the movie. I believe books with movie posters on them may mislead readers into believing the book will be just like the movie, when in fact, they are completely separate mediums and should be treated as such.

Another interesting thing about the book vs. movie poster is the fact that a movie poster can actually be done well in another country's release, but then for some unknown reason, when it comes to America, they totally shitte on it. Case in point, Trainspotting.

Top is the British movie poster. Awesome in color choice, layout is horizontal instead of vertical. The feature of the character names vs the actors name... so, pretty great. (If you want to read more about the design choices go here and see #8)

Then bottom left is American. WTF? Watch how the sorta same concept is done horribly.

Great topic! This is something I have thought about here and there throughout the whole class. I also immediately though of how it seems that the movie posters are photos and the books are more likely illustrations. This would be interesting to research, or maybe it's been done. It must be related to how when you're designing a book cover, it's kind of abstract and in your imagination, and different readers would have different visions of the characters. When you have a movie, you have the very specific and very important real-life actors. (Sometimes readers/viewers disagree with those choices.) Then of course you have books that are re-published after a movie and their cover is the movie poster. It's fascinating to see these designs side by side.

I know it is a little late now, but I wanted to add my feedback on the new designs. Your concept has really been condensed and brought together much better. With your navigation pages and the tabs on all screens it is much clearer how to navigate throughout the story and gives a better idea of the options of what you are able to do on the pad.These updates are so much better! I also really like the all of the main pages with the bright solid colors, they really pop. Good revisions! :)

This was a good topic! It got me searching through lots of different posters and book covers and there really is a significant difference between the two.In my personal opinion, because the book is the original story, I would tend to believe that the book cover would be a better representation only because it is the original idea. On the latter, some designers are able to really grasp a better understanding and create a beautiful design in a different way. Real people rather than cartoons or illustrations tend to grasp and engage an audience more than if it was not a person, although some movie posters still do not show real people.

I have noticed that the movie posters always tend to be of real people (obviously), but sometimes not, which could really change your perspective of the story as a whole, but you will never forget the original book design.Looking through the differences, it is sometimes obvious when a movie poster is much more up-to-date than the book, making the movie poster more intriguing and fresh. After going through a bunch, I am 50/50.Here are two comparisons that I found interesting:

This cover vs. poster design is a significant update; it is obvious that the movie poster was created much later than the book cover, making it much more intriguing in this case.

In this case, both the book design and poster and very similar, adding color and more of a dark, "dangerous" feel but still seems very simple and clean.

In this case, the movie poster using the face of a person is much more intriguing and interesting, bringing more depth and interest in the story by the choice of design.

Shannon-- I'm with you on your stance on book covers vs. movie posters. So much marketing is involved in the movie poster design process, which I'm sure is frustrating to designers trying to actually communicate something about the film, and it leaves little to be said about the film other than how hot Dude McActor looks with his shirt off. I get that there is a purpose behind it, but after taking this class it makes it frustrating, as you said, ha ha. I also get this isn't always the case and there are some really beautiful movie posters out there and there are just as many poorly designed book covers, giving way to their troupe categories.

What I thought was even more frustrating is books being re-sold with movie poster covers once their film adaptation is released. I always cringe when I see this in the stores, proudly displayed on shelves in Target. It ruins the experience for the reader! I think getting to imagine the characters and settings within the book is part of the experience and having the actors splashed across the cover ruins that part of the reading experience. I get it is a marketing machine, but...well, blah.